Back To St. Louis--"Roots"

A store that cannot even be explained....it must be experienced!!!

Before moving to the huge metropolis of Danville, Kentucky I lived in the wonderful city of St. Louis...and in St. Louis is my ultimate favorite eclectic store called Roots.  This store is TO DIE FOR because it has the best salvage goodies in it....I never want to leave once I get in there!!!

One thing that makes this store cool is the actual lay-out of the space...so homey, wonderful lighting and the gals who own it treat you like family!

I knew that triangular ceiling tin would haunt me...and I was RIGHT!!!  I should have bought it because it won't be there next WEEK, much less next summer!! :(

Cool back room....You just KNOW you will find something you can't live without in a room like this, huh??!!

Roots has the coolest selection of little word cards...found anywhere and everywhere.  The day I was there I sifted through hundreds of them to search for words related to my art.  With the help of one of the owners who relentlessly helped me, we were able to find some good ones!!!

Man, what I could do with this COOL industrial piece in my studio...I mean, the one I WILL have someday!!  This looks like something that may have been used long ago in some type of restaurant to haul dishes back and forth??  Only the gals at Roots could tell you!!

Fun collection of letters and numbers from all kinds of signage...

They can't keep rakes in the store when they get them in....um, wonder why??  They always have cool displays like this for their customers to get inspiration from!!  I never wanted a rake so bad in my LIFE after seeing this idea!!!!

FUN....number plates from vintage metal locker baskets

YES, PLEASE!!!

Follow 'em...you'll be hooked!

Hello Bloggers--Welcome!

So when I was asked to participate in the blog party and found out it involved showing my "studio", I was sort of in a...panic!  I am a regular reader of "Where Women Create" and salivate over the wonderful spaces that women have in it.  The fact is, I work in my garage or at my kitchen table!!   It's not too exciting, but it's "the real deal" around here!!  Trust me....I DO have big dreams for my future studio, but for now, here it is!!

I do have my spare room to store most of my goodies in, though, so not all is bleak!  I'm a sucker for a cool suitcase and I use every square inch of them for storage!!

I shop at Goodwill and the Salvation Army like other women shop at Macy's and here is one of my better scores:  the white vanity.  Some day, I'm thinking this will be my desk, but for now it holds all sorts of things.  The blackboard was in the window of a restaurant going out of business (with the advertisement written on it!) When I went in to inquire the owner said, "Just take it for $20.00!" I had it out of the door pretty quickly!  It's normally filled with notes to self, but clean now because I'm going out of town!

I've never met a cigar box that I didn't like...the proof is here.  This is also proof of what a fiend I am about organization..I have tags that hang from every single one.

Well, thanks for dropping by to see my spaces!  I can't exactly call anything a studio right now, but stay tuned!!

Quick Gypsy Bag

I had a wonderfully weathered jean skirt laying around that I had purchased a while back....just waiting for a little beautification--Ragged Gypsy style!  I turned the skirt a different way than I usually do...with the fly on the side...and stitched the bottom, leaving the glorious frays exposed.  I whipped up a bark cloth strap from a vintage curtain and then went to town on embellishment (my signature style!).  I made a flower pin out of upcycled jeans, put an old clip-on earring in the middle, found a pretty green glass button for the skirt's button and of course...no bag would be complete without the old skeleton key and bead at the belt loop!  I'm going out of town this week back to my hometown of St. Louis and wanted a fun bag for all of my jaunts!

Patience Pays Off!

For what seems like an eternity, I have been searching for a pretty blue and white tin to create some pieces with....but it has eluded me!  I absolutely adore blue and white together in anything and was thrilled to finally find a pretty tin on Etsy to buy!  What resulted is, what I think, the perfect summer necklace!

Crazy Daisy

Today was my son's last day of jazz camp in Louisville, Kentucky.  Every year, I make a pilgrimage to the best antique mall there in Louisville...The Crazy Daisy Antique Mall!  This mall is right up there in the top five of my all-time favorite malls...there's SO MUCH there to look at--very unique things, as you will shortly see!!

Here is a super cool piece from some type of railing or porch post...not sure, but it was neat!!

This booth had tons of bakelite

I'm always intrigued by these neat painted metal hooks...if I only had a place for them!!

As a collector of pottery, I have to stop at these vignettes to get my heart to stop pounding!!  That yellow vase...I l almost bought that AND the frog.  My wallet would have been the one having slow the palpitations, but it would have been WORTH IT!!

LOVED the little pink ladder...perfect display piece for the yummy sherbet-colored flower pots!!

Sigh...I'm such a sucker for these old pictures featuring kids....betcha they were sisters--look how sweet!!

This booth had nothing but men's clothing and it was impeccably displayed...no hanger out of place (unlike my hubbie's side of our closet!  I love the Hawaiian shirts!

"Come into my booth, why don't you??"  This mannequin dressed as Santa was a little creepy and the way they turned that hand....just another thing that makes you go "Hmmm"!!!  BUT, it's a perfect example of the eclection in this mall! LOL!

A shot of only one aisle in the basement....all the good stuff is always in the basement!!  All the other goodies above were upstairs.  It seems I always find all of MY goodies down here, though!!

As hard as I try, I just CANNOT pass up a suitcase!!!  The top one became mine....and it came just in time because my hands were full of my goodies by then!!

I wish I collected these...I would have snapped this happy couple up at a small price of $5!!

WHERE on earth would you EVER find a Jimmy Walker doll with "DYNOMITE" written on his clothing??? Of course, THE CRAZY DAISY!!!

I swear, if I had room for her I would have brought her home!!  Isn't she just plain FUNKY??!!  My husband said, "She HAD to be a panty hose mannequin from the 70's!!"  Likely right!!

Well, it was another great day at the Crazy Daisy in Louisville, Kentucky, as usual!!  Those books will become journals, the tins will magically become jewelry and the small bag of mother of pearl buttons will turn into bracelets (at some point!)

Hidden Treasure

As you all know, I'm all about finding unearthed treasures....that thrill of finding something you've searched for OR finding something extra within another treasure.  That's what happened to me this morning!!   I'm obsessed with those old jewelry boxes...the ones with the little lock.... and search for them any and everywhere I go.  The higher they stack, the better.  I went to a flea market a few weekends ago and found a little one...perfect to go on top of my growing stack.  For a mere $3, I couldn't pass it up.   It was in rough condition, though, and even with cleaning (gotta love the Chlorox wipes!) it's still pretty weathered looking.  Today I was thinking of what to put in there....and upon opening it, I found a treasure I didn't know was there...a cute little frame with an unknown man's picture inside.  It even has a bail at the top to attach to a chain--the heart did beat a bit faster!!

Book Journals

Whew...I've punched about 30 of these puppies today!!

Fun title for a journal for someone with an adventurous life, I suppose!!

What an oldie but goodie!!  Everyone wants journals with the old Dr. Suess books, I've found!

Awww....gotta love those old fashioned young girl romance books!!

Perfect title for a diary!!

You may wonder why the bag of Raisinets is here....that was my comfort food while punching!!

Happy 4th everyone!  While others are having fun at the pool or a cookout, I've been catching up on preparing my books to make my journals.  I'm on a constant treasure hunt for books with cool titles or themes that I can use.  It's a lot of fun to see what I can unearth.  The local boutique that carries my jewelry screams for more of these....they sell like hotcakes!!